Washington Post (January 29)
“Self-driving cars appear to be safer than those with human drivers.” We should welcome their introduction. For example, “Waymo robotaxis have logged 33 million miles, mostly ferrying passengers in San Francisco and Phoenix.” In those two cities, “compared with cars driven by humans, Waymo vehicles have been involved in 62 percent fewer police-reported crashes, 78 percent fewer crashes that resulted in injury and 81 percent fewer crashes severe enough to deploy the air bags.” Moreover, the reality is probably even better as some of these accidents were caused by other drivers.
Tags: Accidents, Air bags, Crashes, Human drivers, Injury, Passengers, Phoenix, Police, Robotaxis, Safer, San Francisco, Self-driving cars, Waymo
Straits Times (December 30)
“By sheer international travel volume, Changi Airport topped the Asia-Pacific region, beating Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and Seoul’s Incheon International Airport by quite a distance: 32 million passengers handled to the other two’s 18 million each. In terms of recovery, it is also finishing by as much as 10 percentage points higher than the South-east Asia average.”
Tags: Asia-Pacific region, Bangkok, Changi Airport, Incheon International Airport, International, Passengers, Recovery, Seoul, Suvarnabhumi Airport, Top, Travel volume
Seattle Times (September 27)
“Built to carry nine passengers and one or two pilots,” the flight demonstrated “the potential for an electric commercial commuter aircraft flying a few hundred miles between cities at an altitude of around 15,000 feet.” Clearly, “the technology is pioneering and puts this region at the forefront of efforts to develop a zero-emission, sustainable era in aviation.” The larger question, however, is “whether it can deliver the economic returns necessary to become a commonplace mode of air travel.”
Tags: Aircraft, Aviation, Commercial, Commuter, Economic returns, Electric, Flight, Forefront, Passengers, Pilots, Pioneering, Potential, Sustainable, Technology, Zero-emission
Globe and Mail (October 6)
In Canada, air and rail passengers will soon need to be vaccinated, as will workers at the nation’s largest employer, the federal Government. “Vaccinations will also be required for the hundreds of thousands of people who work in Canada’s public service, as well as those who work in federally regulated industries, such as banking.” The rules come into effect in October.
Tags: Air, Banking, Canada, Employer, Government, Passengers, Public service, Rail, Regulated industries, Vaccinations, Workers
Time (February 9)
“Of all of the things that distinguish 21st century humanity from that of earlier eras, it’s our growing state of interconnectedness that has the greatest impact on disease spread. In 2019, there were some 40 million commercial flights worldwide, carrying about 4.7 billion passengers. For a virus, that’s the equivalent of 4.7 billion dandelion spores, each a potential carrier of its DNA, drifting to wherever the air-travel currents blow them.”
Tags: 21st century Humanity, Carrier, Commercial flights, Disease spread, DNA, Interconnectedness, Passengers, Virus
The Independent (August 25)
On Sunday, British Airways should have been celebrating 100 years of flight, instead BA was experiencing “one of the worst weekends in its 21st-century history.” When the Pilots’ Association called three days of strikes, “the airline told tens of thousands of passengers that their flights were cancelled–only to admit many of the messages were sent in error” because the wrong date range was used in sending the alerts.
Tags: BA, Cancelled, Date, Error, Flights, Passengers, Pilots’ Association, Strikes, Wrong
New York Times (October 6)
“Tablets and other devices have been around for years. It’s time regulators issued common-sense rules for their use aboard planes.” A recent recommendation from an expert panel suggests the Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A) might loosen regulations on the use of electronic devices. The panel’s “sensible recommendation would allow passengers to read e-books, listen to music or watch movies without causing interference during takeoffs and landings.” Partial restrictions against using cell phones and Wi-Fi would, however, remain in place if the F.A.A. follows the panel’s recommendation.
Tags: Cell phones, E-books, Electronic devices, F.A.A., Interference, Landings, Movies, Music, Passengers, Planes, Regulators, Restrictions, Tablets, Takeoffs, Wi-Fi